Teams, politicians and poseurs enjoy the Monaco sunToday the Formula One teams are enjoying the traditional 'rest' day at the Monaco Grand Prix. But while the drivers took a chance to unwind briefly, during a day of sponsors' opportunities, wheeling and dealing in the famous
Mediterranean harbour, their team chiefs and the sport's leading politicians, as well as various other poseurs, grabbed their moment in the sunshine.
In the wake of yesterday's action, there were plenty of arguments and mutterings. McLaren team chief Ron Dennis, a strident and often outspoken critic of some of the decisions taken by the FIA, hit out this time at the way in which a long-term blueprint for the future is being mapped out.
Commenting on Thursday evening about the latest 'paper' for a 'green' future for the sport, Dennis said he was very upset that the world's leading road car manufacturers were taking a major role instead of the traditional racing teams.
"There are two categories of Grand Prix organisations, those that have equity control from a manufacturer and those teams whose core business is Formula One," he said. "I don't feel comfortable with regulations designed to favour manufacturers who at any time can stop because it is not their core business."
"History shows they do choose to stop at short notice for different reasons. So, to construct therefore F1 for the manufacturers is fundamentally wrong.
I see the need for an F1 that embraces many of the things that are part of the paper."
"I am not opposed to it at all, I am supportive of it, but inevitably change is always considered a good solution to un-competitiveness, so cynically I look at a variety of teams saying 'great' because they are uncompetitive and cannot make competitive cars with the current regulations."
"I hope that the thing that has driven virtually every decision of value that is taken over the last five years, which is cost, is kept firmly at the top of the list because this is going to cost a fortune and there isn't anybody that can argue against that. This will cost a fortune."
"We need to be mindful of the fact that this could see the demise of several teams who will not be able to pursue development programmes or receive the support of a manufacturer."
"So going from one minute a situation where we are effectively going to have four cars of the same make, most of which will be produced by the core manufacturing companies, to a situation where the manufacturers are heavily favoured against those core manufacturers, I don't think that is correct. But that is an opinion."
His hard-hitting view was not shared by other team chiefs, notably fellow-Briton Nick Fry of Honda who believes that Formula One must embrace a new 'energy-efficient' philosophy in order to survive.
Fry said: "In our view, it is completely mandatory - there is unlikely to be a Formula One in the future without steps in that direction. I won't go into detail, but would say we would support 80 per cent of the detail of the proposal as well."
"What we are seeing here is some really game-changing leadership from the FIA and I think that is what is required and I think the whole thing is to be applauded."
Meanwhile, as the talking went on in the famous old paddock in the harbour, and the teams tinkered with their cars, the drivers escaped for some rest in advance of Saturday's critical qualifying session when, in the final five minutes, the grid that could decide the outcome of Sunday's 65th Monaco race is decided.
Source AFP
